When the Corpse Flower blooms at the Missouri Botanical Garden it takes the city by storm. Now you can have a smaller (and almost as stinky but cold hardy!) version in your own garden. The Voodoo Lily, Arum cornutum, creates stunning displays with first its unique flowers, then with 2-3′ leaves on leopard-spotted stems. Voodoo Lily features an inflorescence with a spathe (a large sheathing bract enclosing the flower cluster) heavily mottled with purple markings. With its flower that smells like rotting flesh, you’ll understand why it attracts carrion insects, bugs that eat dead animals and people. The flower appears in summer. After flowering a single, large deeply lobed leaf is produced on a tall purple spotted stem.

Its hard to believe this exotic looking seducer is actually a hardy perennial that comes back year after year. Easy to grow, it needs little maintenance once established. Deer don’t touch it. A fascinating and fun plant that makes a great conversation piece.

Plant in sun to part shade. Amend soil with organic matter. Keep well watered until established, when in bud and blooming, and during dry spells.

Bulb